Drawn

Early Sketches

Five simple drawings. And they were sketchy at best. But these early doodles on scratch paper were the forerunners of today’s designs. At the time, main interests involved drawing airplanes and islands. Then, one day, my pencil created five rough sketches of castle like structures. My interest in architectural design has grown ever since.

Two dimensional and shaky, the drawings themselvs show little in the way of content. But they do reveal that, especially for someone as young as ten years old, there is much potential for innovative architectural designs in the future.

Freehand Design

Before the implementation of "two and three point perspective drawing," which would become the mainstay of many designs, there were the developmental freehand drawings. Some involve basic use of colors, others involve using structure in an aesthetically pleasing design. These would sharpen and hone skills needed for the architectural designs of the future.

Freehand skills were never really developed as my preferred type of art invoved rulers and measurement. But still evident even in these early designs are the elements of architectural design that make for a fulfilling hobby today.

Principles

The main principles of Studio CMS, as developed in almost twenty years of architectural and commercial design hobby experience, are as follows-

~To find a well balance between functionality and aesthetics. If there is a conflict between the two, aesthetics will always win out. (Hey, image is everything.)

~To find better solutions for existing use of land and building design.

~To use a wide ranging spectrum of design styles, ranging from classical to modern.

~To have fun and develope a skill. That's about it.

Recognition

My work has earned various awards throughout the years. One of the most prestigious, although I did not know it at the time, was an offer of admission from the Art Institute of Chicago. I had already made my decision to go to the University of Hawai'i.

The greatest award I have recieved would have to be a congressional invitation to the Huntsville Museum of Art's Youth Art Month. I was the only person from my high school chosen, and my work was displayed in the museum gallery. Today, that artwork hangs on the walls of the Newman Center on the campus of the University of Hawai'i at Manoa.

I had four choices of colleges and it was a difficult decision to make. I was accepted into the Schools of Architecture at Auburn University, Alabama; University of Hawai'i; University of Southern California; and Virginia Tech.

After much time put into the decision making process, I settled on the University of Hawai'i. Although it was less reknown than the others, its small size and enviable location made it the clear choice for what was sure to be a challenging five year adventure toward my BArch.

I changed majors and transferred out six months later.